Preparing For a New Beginning

In the April of 2010, I started this Collagitation blog as a means to present my collage-a-day project, “3SIXTY5”, in honor of my 60^th birthday. Now, in 2017, it will be reborn as a platform to document my journey from full-time employee to full-time artist. 

As of May 5, 2017,  I’M RETIRING!!

Much has changed in seven years. There have been losses (my dear mother passed away in 2013) and gains (I got a new knee and the house got a new back porch); but what has remained constant is my desire to do my artwork, with my full attention, whenever I choose, and without interruption.  That’s a lot of emphasis on me, my and I.  Surely there are greater reasons, beyond personal fulfillment, for why people are given talents? This too I will discover, in time.

A man is not old until his regrets take the place of dreams. 

-Yiddish proverb

Meanwhile, here is a sample of what I’ve been working on. All of these were begun within the past 12 months; none is finished yet.

This first piece is entitled "Owl for David Caspar Friedrich," who is one of my favorite painters. (http://www.caspardavidfriedrich.org/the-complete-works.html)

"Owl for Caspar David Friedrich"  

You can see the painting that inspired it here, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Owl_in_a_Gothic_Window_by_Caspar_David_Friedrich.jpg

Making tiny books for a library assemblage piece

The books in their gothic bookcase. The rest of the interior of the assemblage box is in the works.

This piece was inspired by another favorite artist, Peter Gabrielse, whose work I discovered last year on Pinterest. His website is here: http://www.petergabrielse.com/ And if you are into interiors as much as me, on my Pinterest page you can see photos of his home in Normandy (as well as his artwork) https://www.pinterest.com/diakea/peter-gabrielses-world/ though it is sometimes difficult to distinguish rooms in his house from those in his work.

By the way,  most of the photos of Gabrielse's home were taken by London-based jewelry designer and photographer Kotomi Yamamura, who travels all over Europe every summer taking photos (MAJOR ENVY!!), and visits Peter. You can see her work here, https://www.flickr.com/photos/kotomi-jewelry/albums  I recommend scrolling through her albums, there is an amazing assortment of inspirational things to see! Unfortunately (for me) her blog is in Japanese.

You can also see boards of my painting, collages and calligraphic art on my Pinterest page.

Finally, one more work in progress, tentatively entitled "The Cosmos in Her Hand." Another tribute to my love of books, reading, and the allure of old objects.

That's it for now! 

Watch this space!

Time for a Change...

...it's been happening for a long time anyway. Early on, I said the reason I was doing this blog was to get myself to make more art. It worked! For awhile. Perhaps my collage-a-day project was ill-conceived, given that I could not sustain the stresses that goal put on my time, sleep, and other commitments in my life. So, why not write posts about other things that interest me, or things in my life that others might find interesting? Next to art, the biggest category of personal obsessions is books--as well as music, interior decoration, food, gardening, animals, etc. The fact that reading a book is MUCH EASIER than producing art has something to do with it.

So....to bring you up to date with the highlights, and nadir, of my past several days:

Last Friday night I was delighted to attend Handel's Rinaldo when a friend's husband was not up to 3 hours of baroque opera!

Sorceress Armida (Alexandra Loutsion, center) has Almirena and Rinaldo (Shannon Dooley, left, and Stephanie Lauricella) under her power in Pittsburgh Opera's "Rinaldo."
© David Bachman Photography, 2010

 

 

 

The singing was nothing short of astounding, especially considering that these vocalists are members of Pittsburgh Opera's Artists in Residence program, singers-in-training, all so young that only one is just embarking on a professional career. Minimalist but effective sets, in combination with evocative lighting and costumes, also  made for a visually magical night. How about a little operatic beefcake?

Sexy & Shirtless: "Barihunk" Dan Kempson, who sang Argante in Rinaldo

Saturday night I attended a baby shower for a co-worker, and a fine, ribald old time was had by all! 

Sunday afternoon I picked up my daughter from a sibling reunion at her Dad's place, looking forward to spending Monday with her before putting her on a train back to NYC on Tuesday morning.

We watched the Steelers lose the Superbowl., in spite of this year's fabulous fight song, "Drink Up, Yinz Bitches!"...well, gotta give the other guys a chance to win once in awhile.

Alas, I awoke early Monday and found myself face to face with a nasty bout of the flu. I haven't been that sick in quite awhile, and lost my day with my daughter. Fortunately her Aunt was able to get her to the train station so she got home ok.

Last night I finally stopped the frequent dashes for the bathroom, but I stayed home from work today as well. I'll be back in harness tomorrow.

I'm online tonight, actually, because I was searching for pictures of the Honorable Stephen Tennant, whose biography, Serious Pleasures, I am currently reading. There's something about early-20th c personalities that I find utterly fascinating--Stephen Tennant, Diana Cooper, Ottoline Morrel, the Sitwells, the Mitfords, Vita Sackville-West, to name a few. Perhaps its that sense of temps perdu, of ways of life that are forever vanished, that makes the magic. Also, people seemed to conduct themselves with so much more panache and/or elegance in bygone times. Or does every generation think that?

Stephen Tennant costumed as Prince Charming

A Coming Metamorphosis

It’s been awhile since I posted anything, and at present I still have no new artwork to show, alas. However, I do see light at the end of the tunnel: I’ve finally finished this huge calligraphy job that has been stalking me like the Hound of the Baskervilles for several weeks and preventing me from taking up more creative activities. Here is a tale of woe all too familiar to calligraphers:  the piece is done, all 500+ words of it filling an 18x24 sheet, and the last step is adding a logo in black. Why I chose to do so with a crow quill pen instead of a permanent black marker, I can’t fathom, but I’ll know better from now on! Because, of course, the pen burped out too much ink, which bled beyond the edge of the logo design and thus ruined the entire piece. (And that was the second attempt, the first one being only half-done when I ruined it by leaving out an entire, important word.)  That was last weekend. This past week, every night after work, I plied my pen (doing the logo first—in marker!) and, HURRAY!! last night I finished it. Here it is, with apologies for the lousy digital photography:

Since I can no longer keep up the strain of working full time and still producing one of my intricate, detailed collages every day (attempts at simplifying my style have been futile) I’ve been pondering where to go with this blog. Recently I came across a couple of other blogs whose style I love—Little Augury, written by an interior designer in the Carolinas, and Scala Regia, by a Diogo Mayo, who is Portuguese. Both of them have exquisite tastes and interests in art, books, fine interiors, beautiful gardens, legendary personages, in short, the very things that are most compelling to me. Little Augury tends to emphasize interiors, while Scala Regia has lots about fashion, and both offer plenty about the personalities involved in those industries. LA includes a good bit of text, while SR is mostly visuals.Their blogs are loaded with wit and style and never fail to interest, enlighten and amuse. So, taking inspiration from these, I will attempt to broaden Collagitation to encompass all of my interests, not just my art. Whether I can do this without boring people remains to be seen!

Collagitation will remain the title, because, after all, life is a collage, made up of colors, patterns, and contents that we select and attempt to arrange in a fulfilling design of our own making. But unlike the art that we create, many, if not most, of the elements that comprise our lives are not what we choose, but either what we are dealt or what we settle for. Which is one of the reasons why creating art is so satisfying. “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” - Twyla Tharp

3SIXTY5 for July 6: What Is Your Passion?

Mine, obviously, is art. And books. And gardening, music, ballet, etc.  This is a topic I could pursue endlessly. It reminds me of the Robert Louis Stevenson poem:

 

The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

With the posting of today's collage, I am happy as a Queen to state:

The day departs with weary tread

And I am delighted to be going to bed!